Alan K. Henderson's Weblog

(Episodes: Eris Quod Sum, Villains)

Arthur Petrelli is on the warpath. He orders Matt Parkman to be killed; Maury Parkman objects and gets killed himself. (Presumably Arthur already has Maury's mind illusion ability from Peter, who would have absorbed it from his previous contacts with Matt.)

Arthur also has Maya's ability. She's finally gotten the cure she wanted, but she probably has no idea that it is residing in someone else. Mohinder had taken her to Pinehurst looking for help for the both of them, and has now been enlisted in Arthur's research into perfecting the serum for synthetic superpowers.

Sylar has gone to Pinehurst to rescue Peter. He ultimately succeeds; during a confrontation with Arthur Sylar throws Peter out a window, evidently using his power to break Peter's fall. Claire and Elle take Peter away; they had arrived hoping to get help for the instability in Elle's electrical power and a change that had occurred in Claire's power after her first-episode encounter with Sylar - she no longer feels physical pain.

Sylar has now joined Pinehurst - time will tell how much, if at all, he trusts Arthur.

The episode ends with Hiro and Ando at Usutu's hut. Hiro begins his chemically-induced "spirit walk," which will the focus of the episode "Villains." Hiro's journey goes back one year, to learn of three of the four villains in this painting. (Knox does not appear in this episode.)

We learn that Flint is Meredith's brother, and is dumb as a brick. They used their flame powers as robbers until tracked down by Agent Thompson, who had designs to recruit both as agents for The Company. She does some agent training under Thompson's tutelage, but has no desire to join up - at the time she still thought her baby Claire to be dead, and she blamed the Company for it. She escapes the Company with Flint by train, but is followed by Thompson. In the confrontation Flint get away and the other two jump to escape an explosion - this turns out to be the burning train wreck Claire encounters early in Season One.

We learn that Elle had been Bennett's partner while trailing Sylar. Elle is sent to gain Sylar's confidence. She first finds him in the process of trying to hang himself, feeling guilty over his first murder; she uses her ability (unseen) to break the rope.

In a previous episode Sylar had said to Claire that her father doesn't see "mutants" as humans, and this episode illustrates it. The Company knows that Sylar steals others' powers and kills in the process, but doesn't know exactly how. Bennett orders Elle to arrange Sylar to meet another person with abilities at Sylar's apartment, where a hidden camera awaits to film the act in progress. Elle tries at the last minute to stop the plan, revealing her power to Sylar. Sylar tells her to leave, she does, and Bennett gets the video he was looking for.

It turns out that it was Arthur Petrelli who put the hit on his own son in Season One. He knew that Nathan's investigation into Linderman would incriminate himself. Arthur is embarassed by Peter's choice of profession (hospice nurse). Arthur doesn't know that Nathan has a power - evidently Angela has connections with Dr. Zimerman - and somehow she is able to conceal this knowledge from her telepathic husband.

She also has connections with The haitian, which is instrumental in her attempted murder. She poisons his soup, with the Haitian nearby to prevent his use of his abilities. The attending physician is under Arthur's pay and falsely reports Arthur's death. Arthur remains paralyzed until (not seen in Hiro's vision) that fateful encounter with Adam Monroe.

The finale has me thoroughly disgusted. Hiro wakes up from his vision, finds Usutu decapitated, and encounters Arthur Petrelli, who at once attempts to drain Hiro's power (which he has already from Peter). I hate seeing Usutu getting killed off so easily, and I hate seeing Arthur defeat Hiro. It is possible that the Arthur encounter is actually part of the vision, that it gives Hiro sufficient warning to teleport himself, Ando and Usutu out of the warpath. If the encounter is real, he still might have time to teleport himself away before Arthur can succeed. If he does lose his power, he must somehow get it back to prevent Season Three from becoming a complete letdown.

He's been given that vision for a reason. He still has a mission, powers or not. He knows first and foremost of Arthur. He knows of Sylar's struggles with his homicidal tendencies. He knows through Elle and Meredith the dubious trustworthiness of The Company.

Interestingly, the three feature villains are all blood relatives of the cheerleader.

Labels: Heroes, Television